Several times in articles, which have appeared on the Blog, I have talked about the added benefits of burning biomass as the ash/char can be used as a soil amendment. The following video presentation from a group of Australian scientists explain its benefits in more details, and show the history of the process dates back many hundred if not thousands of years.
History of Terra Preta
Throughout the Amazon the orange soils have been turned black on the top few layers by man, through the process of adding charcoal and ash, and is know in the Amazon as Terra Preta. Scientists today are researching how Terra Preta can store twice as much carbon as other soils. The benefits of adding charcoal to the soil are the soil is then far more efficient at retaining nutrients, to capture and retain water and capture CO2 into the soil.
The reason this research is so important is that it addresses so many of the current issues of today’s world.
Energy
As discussed in the video, one of the best ways to produce Biochar from biomass is through pyrolysis and gasification. Gasification also turns out to be one of the most efficient ways to extract energy from biomass. The biomass is initially burnt in a low oxygen environment, this create the generation of syngas, also known as producer gas and wood gas. This gas can then be used for several purposes in terms of heating applications, running generators for electricity production and by passing the gas through a catalyst can be turned into alcohols such as ethanol and methanol for vehicles and other uses.
Soil Improvement and Restoration
The by-product of gasification is charcoal or Biochar/Agrichar. As the video states, it is possible to use the Biochar on soil to improve productivity and efficiency for growing more food and other crops is important, however it can also address an even bigger issue.
In many places throughout the world, and Australia is good example, soil erosion is a massive issue. Without soil amendments over time the soil terns very dusty and more like sand. This soil cannot hold moisture or nutrients and then plants cannot grow. Plant roots are what also hold the soil together; therefore the problem only gets worse over time. New desserts are forming in the US and Australia among other places because of the lack of sufficient soil amendments and management. As this process continues, the amount of fertile land reduces and less crops can be grown.
Biochar can be added to this soil to increase the percentage of organic carbon and improve the soil for growing crops. Using Biochar can reclaim land that was once lost to soil erosion and turn it back in productive land.
Biochar for Replacing other Fertilizers
Many of today’s modern fertilisers are produced from fossil fuels, which is not sustainable. Biochar can replace many of these fertilizers, which makes the process sustainable and reduces water pollution caused by many other fertilizers.
Carbon Negative
By using Biochar we are effectively collecting carbon from the atmosphere and trapping it in the soil to improve the productivity of crops, which are then turned into Biochar to return to the soil to trap even more. Burning biomass is referred to as carbon neutral, where it is actually possible to be carbon negative. No other renewable energy in the form of wind, solar, geothermal or any other has the ability to be carbon negative.
Biomass Pellets
Upgrading biomass into pellets is a convenient way to use the biomass in gasification systems on a small and large scale. Also the Biochar could be processed into pellets to reduce transportation costs and volumes of the Biochar to where it is needed.
The PelHeat Mobile Pelletizer can process resources including wood into fuel pellets. If you would be interested in registering your interest in the PelHeat Mobile Pelletizer and receiving updates on our progress and informed when the pelletizer is on sale please send us an email to:
Contact @ PelHeat . Com
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Thank you for your interest
